After Christmas, I buy all the red, green, gold and silver paper and bags I can find at a very cheap price, sometimes at 75 to 90% off. They can be used for occasions all throughout the year. Red for Valentines Day, silver and gold for weddings, any of the colors for birthdays! Sure can save money this way.
By dorothy wedenoja from New Creek, WV
So much money can be saved by reusing, being inventive and being green on wrapping gifts. Christmas presents cost so much money. If you pay full price for wrapping, bags and bows, it may cost more than some of the things you are wrapping.
This wrapping paper idea came from one of my friends years ago. Use outdated atlases and maps for colorful, cool-looking, and good quality wrapping paper. I use mostly for birthday gifts, but cut out a silhouette of Santa in his sleigh and/or reindeers and attach for Christmas gifts.
I did this for my sister's bridal shower, but you could do this in a birthday or another fun holiday theme! For a wedding gift tower:
Use colored masking tape instead of ribbon to wrap gifts.
Embellish a used book when passing it along to someone else. Here, I wrapped the book with a scrap of patterned paper and satin ribbon with silk flower on top.
A great holiday tip that became a tradition. Make a family box, box with separate lid, wrapped separate, for easy opening, fill with movies, games, new ornament, books, anything your family will share. It's great for video games.
After running out of tape during a Christmas present wrapping marathon I decided to try hot glue. It worked so well I haven't used tape since.
Use silk flowers instead of a bow on gifts. When ribbon streamers are added to a silk flower and it is tied on a gift, it becomes a gift in and of itself, and can be kept and placed in a decorative vase.
These plastic gift bags are so nice! I bought this one because it was so colorful. I plan on buying a matching blue fleece throw and adding a little stuffed Olaf character.
This time of the year, after Christmas, the stores all have Christmas throws on sale. I got several from a dollar store for $2 each last year.
Save money and get creative with your holiday gift wrapping by reusing items you already have, such as brown paper bags, colorful paper napkins, and tissue paper. This page contains ideas for thrifty holiday gift wrapping.
This is a page about decorating plain brown paper for gift wrapping. Less expensive rolls of plain brown paper provide you with a canvas for creating your own unique gift wrapping paper.
Because of our consumer society, wrapping paper can be a huge expense. We may want to consider "downgrading" the packaging and wrapping of the things we purchase in the coming year. I recently heard of a great idea: instead of wasting what amounts to tons (collectively) of wrap and ribbon, why not use seasonal dish clothes or towels to wrap some items?
